Coppers prowl Sheffield's Letsby Avenue
The news yesterday that the good burghers of Butt Hole Road, South Yorkshire, had got a tad irritated with living on an international laughing stock provoked a few Reg readers to offer their particular fave street names. Among the comments was the claim that Sheffield boasts a Letsby Avenue and, of course, on said thoroughfare …
Best pronounced in a Dixon of Dock Green accent. I must be getting slow...
Don't know how many are on street view, but some others for the
schoolboy in you....
Twatling Road, Worcestershire (SJ 99314 74689)
Bell End Green, Pickering (SE 71919 96803)
Cocklands, Charminster (SY 68186 92510)
Ballsdown, Godalming SU 95658 35484)
Ah, 1976, Fifth Year Geography. Ishbel and Julie ... no, not that memory.
Mr McConville (where he now?) tamed we restless pupils every lesson with an introductory "let's be 'avin' you".
And every time I wondered if, somewhere in the world, there was ...
And now there is!
Thanks for the nostalgia trip.
the best news of the week. Thanks El Reg for the diligent journalism in chasing this one down
Ah, but the Police Station at number 999?
Near Junction 32 of the M1 where it joins the M18, you can find the brilliantly named "Cumwell Lane".
And, in the S10 area of Sheffield, the amusingly named area of "Carsick". Which proved quite true the last time I travelled through there in a taxi.
is a particularly delicious touch
... isn't the banner on the side of that police bus so appropriate.
...but I don't think you can top "Fanny Hands Lane" in Ludford... http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=&ie=UTF8&ll=53.382983,-0.204663&spn=0.002464,0.005981&t=h&z=18. PS - a friend's partner works in the office on Letsby Avenue - it's always caused me great amusement!
Hopefully the last three digits are 3LO.
Leysby Avenue as a street name isn' t very funny to you unless you realise that if you were say skulking around in dark shadows the local "Bobby" (Police Officer) might be heard to intone "Oi, Lets be having you" as in "Excuse me sir would you mind coming here so I can taser you"
Some of the other jokes in case you dont get them:
"Ah, but the Police Station at number 999?" You dial 911 for the police, we dial 999
"Hopefully the last three digits are 3LO" Another famous catchphrase of the local "bobby", no not 3LO but "Hello, hello, hello, whats going on here then?" (the 3LO refering of course to an abreviated form - LO, LO, LO)
Maybe jokes arent really funny if you have to explain them, made me smile though, almost as much as spending countless frozen nights in the 80's in the German town of Wankum
Its all rather English I am sorry to say. You have to say it in a ridiculous london accent but it comes out to sound like "Let's be 'avin' you". This was the kind of thing a stereotype copper might have said before he arrested you in the 1950's. The phrase has long fallen out of use in favor of something like "You have been tasered under the terrorism act".
I am guessing it really doesn't translate very well.
The postcode is S9 1(something or other) - nearby Europa Link is S9 1XZ
Also, just look slightly to the right and you'll see a perfect example of Google's 'flawless' number plate blurring technology - actually two - Ford Sierra H616 xxx and Renault Clio NG51 xxx both readable. Are these coppers' cars? Oooh, is that a 'no-no' as defined under the Prevention of Terrorism Act...??
Nope - wrong side of the fence. It's a good job they're only regular people who work at ITM Power plc - no problem leaving them unblurred then, just like the MINI, Range Rover and Citroen further round, (so that's got to cover the boss and secretary at least)... In fact the tech behind the autoblurring is so good it only managed three cars in that car park before giving up.
Nice to see it blur out the 'No smoking' sign to remove the word 'naked' on the gas store, plus random bits of the signage on the van. Flawless. I don't know why we ever doubted Google about this.
I think a better question might be why one were want a license plate blurred out?
I've asked people numerous times who blurred their licenses when posting piccys of their cars on flickr and the like, and none of them had an answer other then, "well, I noticed other posters do it."
@AC : Point taken - but it's Google's assurances that this stuff would work which got it passed the various Government checks on privacy. The same technology is used to blur faces and I've seen examples where, for instance, a dad pushing his child along in a buggy has his faced blurred, but his 4yr-old son is full-faced, clear as it can be, looking and pointing at the weird car driving past. They were neighbours of mine, and although the dad was fairly relaxed about this kind of thing, he didn't want his son to be that identifiable.
However, knowing licence number and make/model is enough to start tracking down various details, so anyone with something collectable, high-value or just desirable might not want details like that to be available. I'm in a number of owners' clubs and on one at least if the poster doesn't blur the plates then the forum moderators pick it up later on and do the job instead - just forum policy being enforced, but there have been attempted carjackings on some owners in that group so they do tend to be more cautious.
Anyway, back to the story - it's perhaps a footnote about Sheffield City Airport that it had a rise and fall like Reginald Perrin - it closed last year after only 11yrs operating, and although the helipad end is remaining operational for the Police and Yorkshire Air Ambulance to use as a base, the rest is being redeveloped as a business park (presumably once the airstrip is ripped up for road hardcore or something). What stinks is that the company that bought it also own the rival Robin Hood airport at Doncaster, which isn't far away - allegedly they were told they could have it for £1 if they could declare it non-viable (run it to the ground) by the end of 2007 - it was costing Sheffield City Council nearly £0.5million a year to keep open, but giving away £1miilion of land for a pound is a curious way of saving cash.
That reminds me of a road out of Reading, that goes towards Oxford, on that road you pass:
Toker's Green
Kane End
Mongswell
and a garden centre called The Herb Centre
Also, a section of it is known as the thirteen bends of death, probably due to all the stoned locals.
.. and at the bottom of Carsick Hill in Sheffield is the ex-policeman's pub, the Ranmoor Inn.
Mine's the one with the felt collar ...
The first time I heard the address "Letsby Avenue" was from a radio comedy series starring
the World War II, Liverpool comedian Ted Ray. "Ray's a Laugh" (get it Raise a Laugh...oh well)
circa 1950's BBC Light Radio. This was the fictional address of Ted Ray's family home
The phrase was taken from the early morning call from a Sergeant or Sergeant Major whilst
attempting to wake up National Service recruits in the barracks at a very early hour.
The cry was normally preceded by the cry of "Wakey-Wakey" which was indeed a catch phrase
used by another entertainer of the same era called "Billy Cotton".
The phrase was moved into the police jargon from the recruiting of soldiers, usually of lowish intelligence into the police force. There being little other work for them after the war.
The police force was full of army officers with no training other than the leadership skills they
had developed ( or not ) whilst on active service.
The saluting and clicking of heels is still ingrained in the police service to this day.
A friend of mine used to have the wonderful address:
Carsick House
Carsick Road
Carsick
Oh, you bring it all back to me - my pleasant days in Crookham Barracks - Ray's a Laugh - "Ee, it was agony Ivy!" - "Dad's lost all his faith in human nature, Dad has," "Has Dad?" and so on!
I'm (almost) surprised that nobody has mentioned the fabulous lane found here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=minge+lane,+upton-on-severn&sll=52.062597,-2.215827&sspn=0.007427,0.019526&ie=UTF8&ll=52.06228,-2.213831&spn=0.014854,0.039053&z=15&iwloc=A
As well as the well-matched drink&drugs pair not too far away:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=Drinkers+End,+Corse+Lawn,+Gloucester+GL19,+United+Kingdom&sll=52.06228,-2.213831&sspn=0.014854,0.039053&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FYf-GAMdvGXd_w&split=0&ll=52.013627,-2.272453&spn=0.118965,0.312424&z=12
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Druggers+End,+Corse+Lawn&sll=51.969654,-2.267733&sspn=0.029771,0.078106&ie=UTF8&ll=52.041722,-2.2855&spn=0.11889,0.312424&z=12
It has to be said..
What kind of twat comes up with these names!
